Governor to celebrate flood support in Cedar Rapids

Governor Chet Culver plans to be in Cedar Rapids this afternoon to celebrate the "outpouring of support" for the city’s flood victims. The hour-long, noon-time event will be held at a church that was damaged by the floodwaters. During a weekend appearance on the I.P.T.V. program "Iowa Press," Culver talked about the springtime flooding.

"I feel good about the overall response to this natural disaster — this unprecedented event that we all dealt with and I want to thank your viewers, I want to thank Iowans across the state for helping in so many different ways," Culver said Friday on Iowa Public Television. "We had Barry Griswell, for example, with Principal who, along with Fred Hubbell, led the private fundraising effort. They’re raised nearly $8 million in private money from businesses throughout the state.

We had 80,000 volunteers who stepped up and helped in various ways." Culver has established a goal of getting families who were flooded out of their homes into a permanent home by this time next year. "I can guarantee you one thing: I will fight every single day — as long as I’m governor — to help those individuals, those businesses and those communities that were impacted," Culver said on IPTV. "We’re making progress, but we have got a long way to go and I’m committed to doing everything in my power to help out."

Organizers of today’s event at St. Wenceslaus Church in Cedar Rapids say there’ll be "words of encouragement, musical performances and a special video presentation." The mayor of Cedar Rapids and other city officials are to be there.